(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell stack assembly device and control method, and more particularly, to a fuel cell stack assembly device and control method for pressing stacked fuel cell components and assembling the stack as a fuel cell assembly.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As is known in the art, a fuel cell stack is a type of generator configured to generate electrical energy by electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen of fuel cells, and for example, the fuel cell is applied to a fuel cell vehicle. The fuel cell stack is a fuel cell assembly having several hundred unit fuel cells arranged continuously. The fuel cell is a unit cell in which separating plates are disposed at both sides of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) interposing the same. The fuel cells may be combined by an end plate and an engagement device in a pressed state.
The fuel cell stack may be assembled by a process such as stacking and arranging fuel cells using a stack guide apparatus (conventionally called a “cartridge” in the industry), pressing the stacked fuel cells between end plates of top and down bottom, and combining the end plates using an engagement device. In the related art, the stack guide apparatus arranges and stacks the fuel cells without generating arrangement errors of the fuel cells and includes a guide bar configured to guide and arrange the fuel cells. For example, the stack guide apparatus includes a guide bar of which an upper end is formed as a free end and a lower end is formed as a structure combined to a bottom side.
However, when the fuel cells are stacked and arranged using the stack guide apparatus, the fuel cells may not be stacked at an exact position and may be stacked with a deviation exceeding a predetermined arrangement error range. In particular, when the fuel cells are pressed with such a deviation present, the guide bar of the stack guide apparatus may be distorted due to the arrangement error of the fuel cells. In other words, a lower end of the guide bar is combined to the bottom of the stack guide apparatus and an upper end of the guide bar is not supported, therefore when the fuel cells are pressed, a buckling phenomenon may occur due to the arrangement error of the fuel cells and the guide bar may be distorted in the outer direction.
Accordingly, in the related art, the guide bar of the stack guide apparatus does not properly perform arrangement of the fuel cells, therefore poor assembly may occur by the stack fault of the fuel cells, and faulty assembling of the fuel cell stack may be increased by the arrangement error of the fuel cells.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.